1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector and to a forming mold therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H06-68927 discloses a connector with a housing that has a terminal holding wall. Terminal holding holes penetrate the terminal holding wall. The connector of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H06-68927 also has tab-shaped terminal fittings made entirely of narrow metal bars. The terminal fittings are cross-sectionally larger than the terminal holding holes and are held by being pressed into the terminal holding holes.
Forces for holding the terminal fittings in the terminal holding holes are obtained from pressing forces of the walls of the hole. Thus, these connectors require a sufficiently long holding hole for holding the pressed-in terminal fittings. Connectors of this type generally thicken only areas where the terminal holding holes are formed rather than thickening the entire terminal holding wall.
The above-described housing is formed by molds 50, 51, as shown in FIG. 7. Molding pins 52 for forming terminal holding holes 53 project from the mold 50 and have a sufficient length to penetrate through thick holding areas 54 for holding the terminal fittings.
Manufacturers of connectors have been forced to make terminals narrower to meet demands for miniature connectors. Accordingly, molding pins must be narrower, and the narrow molding pins may not have sufficient strength. Specifically, there is a possibility that the narrow molding pins will deform when subjected to an injection pressure of resin during molding. Then, the terminal holding holes might not be formed properly, for example, due to deviation from the specified positions.
The invention was developed in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a forming mold and molding method enabling terminal holding holes to be formed properly and a connector formed using such a mold.